My Lightweight Camping Kit

[TheOutdoorist]

To add something to the forum I thought I would share with you my lightweight camping kit.

Here are two posts regarding my lightweight kit on my blog:
http://theoutdoorist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lightweight-kit-test.html
http://theoutdoorist.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/lightweight-kit-v2.html

This kit not including food and water weighs in at 3.6kg, the rucksack alone weighs around 1kg. I plan to upgrade the pack to cut more weight, change the sleeping bag for something 4 season and I also may purchase a more compact sleeping mat.

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The kit includes:
Berghaus Munro Rucksack - Aprox 1kg
4 Season Foam Multimat
Alpkit Rig 7 Tarp
Alpkit Hunka Bivy
Sleeping bag
Cordage and tent pegs
MSR Titan Kettle
500ml Clip lock tub with cosy
2ltr Platypus water bottle
Evernew burner and trivet
Alpkit Spork
Basic first aid kit
Petzl zipka headlight
Lighter
Meths

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Is there anything you think I could leave behind or change to give me a better kit, or anything you think i cannot leave out and must add? All feedback is appreciated.

Thank you for reading, Ben.

[AL...]

You have a tarp or some kinda cover?

Cheers
AL

[treefrog]

I don't know what some of those things are, but if lightness is the goal, maybe you could forget the stove & fuel, and just
go the campfire route?

[TheOutdoorist]

You have a tarp or some kinda cover?

Cheers
AL

The Alpkit Rig 7 Tarp listed above. Need to get some pictures out of the rucksack but packs down to about the size of a pack of crisps and is around 500 gr.


I don't know what some of those things are, but if lightness is the goal, maybe you could forget the stove & fuel, and just
go the campfire route?

I have thought about this and do leave the stove and fuel behind when I can have a fire but sometimes there are fire bans or im stealth camping or i just want a quick brew :)

[OakAshandThorn]

Wow - that is indeed lightweight! :)
I often carry some pitch wood (or fatwood, as some call it) to use as tinder - very handy if, Stars forbid, you got stuck. It's also great for starting a camp fire if and when the opportunity arises ;).
A knife is always useful to have, even if it's just a switch-blade pocket knife. You may even wish to carry two knives - I use a stainless steel switch blade for carving and whittling and a carbon steel full tang workhorse for heavy duty chores.
Whether or not you leave behind items or take more with you is your choice - it depends on what you plan to do and where you plan to stay.

[TheOutdoorist]

Wow - that is indeed lightweight! :)
I often carry some pitch wood (or fatwood, as some call it) to use as tinder - very handy if, Stars forbid, you got stuck. It's also great for starting a camp fire if and when the opportunity arises ;).
A knife is always useful to have, even if it's just a switch-blade pocket knife. You may even wish to carry two knives - I use a stainless steel switch blade for carving and whittling and a carbon steel full tang workhorse for heavy duty chores.
Whether or not you leave behind items or take more with you is your choice - it depends on what you plan to do and where you plan to stay.

Hello and thank you for the comment.
I have a fire lighting kit and firesteel but when i'm going lightweight i tend to use a stove not fire
I also have a few knives but normally leave them at home when going light, if i do carry a blade it will be a mora clipper or alox swiss army knife or similar folding type blade.

I have greatly reduced the amount of tools i own, my shelter/sleeping kit, my cooking kit and my packs just so i use what i have more often and more consistently to test it well. If you look through my blog I have tried a lot of kit and i am at a stage where i am very happy with the kit i own and carry- just need a few more tests to make sure it is there and maybe a couple more adjustments but i'm enjoying to process.

All the best, Ben.

[treefrog]

Good for you, Ben. If only some of the so-called campers over here could convert to your philosophy!
Here lightweight camping means trying not to overload the quad-bike so you don't slow it down...

Jack

[OakAshandThorn]

Hello and thank you for the comment.
I have a fire lighting kit and firesteel but when i'm going lightweight i tend to use a stove not fire
I also have a few knives but normally leave them at home when going light, if i do carry a blade it will be a mora clipper or alox swiss army knife or similar folding type blade.

I have greatly reduced the amount of tools i own, my shelter/sleeping kit, my cooking kit and my packs just so i use what i have more often and more consistently to test it well. If you look through my blog I have tried a lot of kit and i am at a stage where i am very happy with the kit i own and carry- just need a few more tests to make sure it is there and maybe a couple more adjustments but i'm enjoying to process.

All the best, Ben.
Sounds good to me. ;)
Experimentation is always a grand idea - I'm glad you're enjoying the process :).

[TheOutdoorist]

Thank you for the comments and feedback.. it's much appreciated :)

[biker-bri]

One of the thing's that put's me off going out more often is the weight I have to carry, and I mean in the rucksack not around my girth :ashamed: at the moment there is nowhere close that I can safely use to do a car camp so maybe the lightweight approach would be a better option for a single night's stealth camp or even to gain the land owner's trust. (carrying less in should mean less rubbish to carry out)
As I see it, at this time of year the biggest drawback is the weight of fluids and my sleeping system.
A minimum kit list
1, Tarp + pegs & cordage TW Sargasso XL - 530 gr
2, hammock DD travel hammock / bivi 1.16 kg
3, czech army bed roll heavy or sleeping bag light, but cold
4, SAT cook set inc fuel,
5, water - "Its a biggest problem" you either carry enough to last, or hope to camp near a reliable source. for a night out on my own I would take 2 ltr for a few brews an cooking supper, that's 2 kg in weight
6, food n drink, dried soup, packet coffee and biscuits
7, extras I would not leave at home E,G knife, camera, torch, hat gloves fleece jacket this list soon ads up you either wear them & swelter or stuff them in your pack ?
8, rucksack - army type

I will have to try to find out the weight in the next couple of days ( I don't have a scales I wonder why :evilgrin:) just for fun anyone care to guess? the weight of my pack NOT ME :wink:
Cheers bri

[Silverback]

Bri, why don't you just carry one litre and then filter some when you land ?

This time of year in the UK then things always get heavier due to needing a bigger doss bag to combat the cold. Its ok having a super duper lightweight down bag, but then you must have some kind of waterproof cover for it or risk it having the insulative properties of damp cardboard when it inevitably gets wet.

Man made fibres are better for this, but heavier and less packable - its always a trade off.

The other thing is that lightweight kit is often very expensive and sometimes not as good as its name implies.

We are going to have to arrange a night out at Ruthin aren't we ? Then you will have a safe spot for your motor

[biker-bri]

Totally agree with you mate, what I was trying to get at is the least amount of kit I could get away with when walking from my home for a one nighter.
I doubt that I would use my sleeping bag, so I would have to carry the bed roll - relying on filtering water is ok if you know the area REALLY well ( I Mean a millbank filter )
but within sight of where I live there were 3 coal mines a steel works numerous chemical factories land fill sites etc etc even on my last night out Nr the horseshoe pass
the area is riddled with lead mines so unless there is a fast flowing stream what do you do - filtering and boiling doesn't remove heavy metals ?
so I am stuck with carrying enough water for one night.
I have known for a long time that backpacking of any kind is always a trade off between comfort, weight and cost, if I could car camp
every time my kit would do, but as we only have the one car ? .

As for Ruthin YES PLEASE I am sure we could find a few others to join us as well.

[paul standley]

Just on a slight tangent - Ben shows some pkt coffee in one of his photo's. It's called COFI and it's a 3 in 1 sachet.

I've tried this a few times recently and although it's a bit on the sweet side to start with, it's actually pretty good as a 3 in 1 compared to some others which I've never really got on with and it's great for packing as it is all in one pkt.

If you haven't tried it and don't like the other 3 in 1 coffee/milk/sugar sachets out there, then give this one a go. I've only ever seen it in B & M stores but it's probably available elsewhere.

[Tony1948]

I'v got the gear to do it,but Y if you can drive the 4x4 up into the woods.I wont to sleep in stile and eat and drink with my buddis in the evening.That light weight thing is for walker.guys that have to yop into there camp:camping:

[David_JAFO]

hello,
Bri Quote;"Where I live there were 3 coal mines a steel works numerous chemical factories
land fill sites etc.." I understand what you say & where you are coming from Bri.
Sounds alike to where I live & one of my favourite spots. Due to the geo location 'coal fields'
the grounds full of iron too gives the water a rust tinge colour/taste, once filtered boiled etc..
I'm still ok no signs of anything as yet & I've dossed out there since a lad.
The Burns (streams) are the same colour filtered from the peat (see image) taken near my bolt hole
property. Plus point the Burn contains Wild Brown Trout!
Regards
David
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[biker-bri]

hello,
Bri Quote;"Where I live there were 3 coal mines a steel works numerous chemical factories
land fill sites etc.." I understand what you say & where you are coming from Bri.
Sounds alike to where I live & one of my favourite spots. Due to the geo location 'coal fields'
the grounds full of iron too gives the water a rust tinge colour/taste, once filtered boiled etc..
I'm still ok no signs of anything as yet & I've dossed out there since a lad.
The Burns (streams) are the same colour filtered from the peat (see image) taken near my bolt hole
property. Plus point the Burn contains Wild Brown Trout!
Regards
David
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Again I have to agree with you, we all could argue about drinking river,stream or standing water, I have drunk
from a stream on snowdon knowing that there are copper mines there (and loads of people who p on the slopes )
and I am fine ( apart from being a bit tetchy now and then :ashamed:).
My original post on this thread was about the amount of "weight" we have to "carry" for a reasonable night out
with a hammock at this time of year, for a person who HAS TO WALK IN TO CAMP and that.s what my list was about
in the summer it,s a different story although it can get damn cold at night.
To be fair to Wrexham council they where rightly proud to announce that brown trout were in a local river for the first time
in over eighty years, the course of the river ran adjacent to Brymbo steelworks which closed in 1989 (I think)
but it was a surprise for everyone to find out that the redness of the river came from a band of shale uncovered by mining
and not caused by the steelworks ( if anyone knows anything different please let me know )
Cheers Bri

[biker-bri]

I'v got the gear to do it,but Y if you can drive the 4x4 up into the woods.I wont to sleep in stile and eat and drink with my buddis in the evening.That light weight thing is for walker.guys that have to yop into there camp:camping:

Yep Tony that's what I would like to do but we have nowhere that we can do this as a group
Cheers Bri

[biker-bri]

TheOutdoorist :Sorry: I seam to have hijacked your thread. Bri

[Opal]

Those 3 in 1 Cofi packs are brilliant, B+M stores sell the jar of 40 for £2:99p.

[jacko1066]

Those 3 in 1 Cofi packs are brilliant, B+M stores sell the jar of 40 for £2:99p.

Hi, sorry to question you but can I ask what makes them so good?
I love my coffee but those nasty 3 in 1 Nescafé packs have put me right off!!
I tend to take my own coffe and coffee creamer powder and do it myself, but have to admit the idea of the 3 in 1 pouch is great.

Cheers
Steve

[Aragorn]

on my last night out Nr the horseshoe pass
the area is riddled with lead mines so unless there is a fast flowing stream what do you do - filtering and boiling doesn't remove heavy metals ?
Not to mention dead sheep upstream :(


As for Ruthin YES PLEASE I am sure we could find a few others to join us as well.

I could be tempted ;)


but as we only have the one car ?

If we had a meet arranged, I wouldn't mind giving you a lift Bri, aslong as your not a axe murderer :D

[Silverback]

the idea of the 3 in 1 pouch is great.

I dont use the nescafe ones I use Maxwell House they seem to taste much better although there is NO substitute for a proper cup of Java so I always have some stashed :)

[Opal]

Hi, sorry to question you but can I ask what makes them so good?
I love my coffee but those nasty 3 in 1 Nescafé packs have put me right off!!
I tend to take my own coffe and coffee creamer powder and do it myself, but have to admit the idea of the 3 in 1 pouch is great.

Cheers
Steve

I ain't got a clue, Steve, what makes them so good but they just taste lovely. I've never been a coffee fan apart from the odd one when abroad on holiday, I saw these on a site early last year and mentioned them to my missus, went along to B and M and was hooked. My wife has never been into coffee either but now she's at it as soon as she comes home from work (the coffffffeeeeeee! :ashamed:).

She rarely has a cup of tea nowadays.

[biker-bri]

If we had a meet arranged, I wouldn't mind giving you a lift Bri, aslong as your not a axe murderer :D[/QUOTE]

Depends if I have had my pills or not, but yea I would chuck some dosh in for fuel, cheers mate.
Bri

As for the coffee debate I use the posher more upmarket Kenko coffee with creamer, no added sugar for me thank you.

[roberts]

Teabags

[TheOutdoorist]

Teabags

Food/tea/water is always carried when out overnight but weight still kept to a minimum.
Thank you:)

[TreefrogGB]

I dont use the nescafe ones I use Maxwell House they seem to taste much better although there is NO substitute for a proper cup of Java so I always have some stashed :)

Starbucks VIA coffee sachets are my little camping luxury. Tastes like a proper cup of coffee too. They are usually available from larger Tesco's stores.

[Ferrell freddy]

I like to cut down weight as much as possible of course and with the stupid kit we have to carry sometimes! But a wise man once said to me "pray not for a lighter load, but for a stronger back"